Smith of Wooton Major - Farmer Giles of Ham

Venture into the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien with these classic fantasies that dazzle and delight.

Smith of Wootton Major (A Tolkien faery-tale involving a smith, a cook, and faery magic)

“Like The Hobbit, this is first and foremost a good tale—dense and engrossing, full of unexpected turns. . . . It is both homely and haunting, and in its way, almost literally bewitching.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A short prose meditation on the gift of fantasy, what it is, whence it comes, and what it means to the life and character of the man who receives it.”—Paul H. Kocher, author of Master of Middle-earth

Farmer Giles of Ham (The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall and King of the Little Kingdom.)

This short novella is a delightfully complicated mock-heroic tale. When a “cunning, inquisitive, greedy, well-armored but not overly bold” dragon invades a kingdom, a most unwilling Farmer Giles is chosen to slay the dragon . . . a dragon who refuses to fight.

     "Excuse me," said the dragon, "but were you looking for me by any chance?"

     "No, indeed!" said the farmer. "Who'd a' thought of seeing you here? I was just going for a ride.

     "As you like," said Chrysophylax, licking his lips again, but pretending to close his eyes. He had a wicked heart (as all dragons have), but not a very bold one (as is not unusual). He preferred a meal that he did not have to fight for; but appetite had returned after a good long sleep. The parson of Oakley had been stringy, and it was years since he had tasted a large fat man. He now had made up his ind to try this easy meat, and he was only waiting until the old fool was off his guard.

     But the old fool was not as foolish as he looked . . .